Four-time Tour winning Patrick Reed believes it is a ‘cut throat’ approach to golf that separates golf’s newer generation of ’Twenty-aged something’ players from their older colleagues.

The 25-year old Texas-born Reed is among six players, headed by World No. 1 Rory McIlroy and last week’s Players Champion Rickie Fowler, aged in their mid-20s and who currently dominate world golf.

Of course, fellow Texan and Masters Champion Jordan Spieth is the youngest and with the World No. 2 currently aged just 22 years.

“You look at all those guys who are aged in their 20s and who have risen to be high up on the rankings, there is a common thread when you look at all us and it seems the main thing we’re all kind of cut-throat,” said Reed.

Patrick Reed insists it is a ‘cut-throat’ approach that separates golf’s ‘Twenty-something’ golfers from the PGA Tour pack.

“It doesn’t matter who we are playing with because if we are four under we are always trying to beat the field, and if we are beating the field we are trying to go even lower.

“That to me seems the difference in all the guys out here in their 20s.

“You take Rory (McIlroy) and you see how much success he’s enjoyed in his 20s and then there’s Jordan and myself, and that’s how I’ve always played my golf.

“So if I’m at four under I just want to get to five under and then if I get to five under, I want to get to six under and a lot of these younger guys don’t have any fears.”

Reed, who captured a fourth PGA Tour title earlier this year at the Tournament of Champions, will contest the opening two rounds of Thursday’s starting $US 7.1m Wells Fargo Championship alongside McIlroy, and with the now 26-year old Northern Irishman having broken through on the Quail Hollow course in suburban Charlotte in 2010 to capture the first of now 10 PGA Tour titles.

And while Reed has not played that much golf in his career alongside McIlroy, the current World No. 15 is no stranger to having competed regularly against many other now ‘Twenty-something’ colleagues.

“We have been humbling each other since were little as I have been beating on Jordan and he’s been beating on me while we’re both been beating on Rickie and vice versa,” said Reed.

“The only person I didn’t play that much when I was younger was Rory and it was not to I got onto the PGA Tour I was first exposed to Rory.

“So when I first started seeing Rickie play well I thought to myself ‘why can’t I’?

“I know when Jordan got out here on Tour he was also thinking the same and when we got out here on the PGA Tour we just brought that believe with us that we had when we were beating on each other when we were younger.

“But then when I get out there on Thursday I am not looking to finish in front of Rory as I will be focused on beating the goals I will set myself before teeing off,” said Reed.

“And if I can beat those goals then I will set myself goals for the remainder of the week but then like I said before, if my goal was four under then  the competitiveness in me wants to get to five under, then to six under, seven under and if I get to seven with a hole to play I will be fighting hard to get to eight under.

“So I am always pushing myself harder and harder and sometimes that works and sometimes it back-fires and you have to reset those goals.

“But then if I am going to win this week it’s not about beating Rory as it’s about beating the golf course and that’s still the biggest goal.”